Brain Waves and Predicting Psychosis: A Closer Look at EEG Measures

Brain scans using electroencephalography (EEG) have been a hot topic in mental health research. These scans measure electrical activity in the brain and can help spot patterns linked to mental health conditions. One big area of focus is on people at high risk for psychosis. These individuals, often called CHR, don't always develop psychosis, making it tough to create new, personalized treatments. Plus, the meds used to treat psychosis can have some serious side effects. So, finding safer and more effective treatments is a big deal. The AMP SCZ Program was created to tackle this issue. It looked at different EEG measures, like event-related potentials (ERP) and event-related oscillations (ERO), in both CHR individuals and a control group. The goal was to see if these measures could predict clinical outcomes or track the progression of illness. The program checked the reliability and stability of these measures over time. The results showed that these EEG measures were pretty reliable. They stayed consistent over different sessions and had good test-retest reliability. However, some measures did decrease over time, which is likely due to a phenomenon called habituation. This is when the brain gets used to a stimulus and responds less strongly over time. Despite this, the measures were still reliable enough to be useful in studies. One key finding was that the measures could potentially be used as predictors of clinical outcomes. This means that EEG scans could help doctors predict how a person's mental health might change over time. This is a big deal because it could lead to more personalized and effective treatments. It could also help in controlled clinical trials, where these measures could be used to track how well a treatment is working. The AMP SCZ Program is a step forward in understanding how EEG measures can be used in mental health research. It shows that these measures are reliable and could be useful in predicting clinical outcomes. However, more research is needed to fully understand how these measures can be used in practice. For now, it's an exciting area of research that could lead to big improvements in mental health treatment.